Let’s balance criticism of the Beth Din with appreciation

Dean Lutrin, Johannesburg

Our Beth Din dropped the ball with the recent kashrut scandal, and the resultant fallout has, arguably, been managed poorly.

I, like many of your readers, know many of the lay and professional leaders of the Beth Din and regard them as friends and teachers.

I believe that we, as a community, need to express our gratitude to those who look after the spiritual welfare of our community, be it for a salary or voluntarily. That is not to say that we don’t have the right or responsibility to criticise, but a happy relationship demands that words of affection far outweigh the harsh words.

If our children don’t hear dinner table conversation about how we cherish our communal organisations, they will stop believing in them.

We as a community are judgmental towards Jews who publicly attack the State of Israel because we don’t feel their attitude stems from a place of love. Similarly, we cannot allow for a cynical and critical attitude to be the dominant motif of our relationship with our Beth Din. We have the power to destroy it – and then what?